


An Old Friend

by shambling



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Melancholy fluff, its a new genre i've invented, no-one should be alone at christmas, post-starship titanic, tea and biscuits solve everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:42:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25047862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shambling/pseuds/shambling
Summary: The Doctor visits an old friend, herself, in order to give him a little bit of Christmas cheer
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan & Graham O'Brien & Ryan Sinclair, thirteenth doctor & tenth Doctor
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	An Old Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anobii1992](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anobii1992/gifts).



> "Jo-aaane" should be said to yourself like someone changing from saying John to saying Jane mid word, for obvious reasons. I've almost certainly buggered about a bit with the timelines because I think when the Doctor dropped off the survivors it was evening an this is set on a Christmas morning, but still, ignore that bit. 
> 
> Anyway, this is an idea i've toyed with on and off with various friends, that came to fruition because I was talking ot Anobii about it, so, its for you pal!

“I've got loads of things to do!” It's not entirely a lie, its just that she'd far rather be doing them with her fam around her; but she does understand their need to catch up from time to time, remember their lives, and so the Doctor waved them off with a smile and a promise to see them tomorrow lunchtime. She very nearly set the TARDIS to hop straight there, and then stopped, just for a moment. There was something niggling at her, right at the back of her mind; something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She turned back to the TARDIS console. “Come on, lets go and see if we can't work out what this is.” she muttered out loud, turning dials, patting the console and trying to let her mind go soft, like seeing something in the corner of her eye, as she pulled down on the lever.

The flight was short, relatively, but choppy, the TARDIS almost slamming to a halt, as though she wasn't entirely happy about where she was. “Sorry.” The doctor offered, giving the console one last consoling pat as she headed for the door, shrugging her coat on. “But I just want to have a quick look, see if I can't work out whats doing this.” The Doctor pulled open the door to a blast of cold air, which had her reaching back to the coat stand for her scarf, before she stepped outside, pulling it closed behind her. She licked her finger, held it up to the air for a while, before popping it back into her mouth, contemplatively. “Winter, earth, 2008 if i'm not mistaken,” she mumbled around the finger, before removing it from her mouth again, “London? Whats happening in London 2008? It's very quiet about isn't it?” She turned, but of course, no fam. “This is way less fun on my own.” She grumbled to herself, before setting off for the end of the alley, to see if she could find the source of the niggle.

As she rounded the corner, things stayed strange. The sun was up, high in the sky, but the shops were all closed, with barely any signs of life. The Doctor paused, stuck her tongue out again, tasting the air. “Ohhhhh, oh of course, silly me! Its Christmas!” She spun around, taking in the buildings and the sky. What would bring her to New Oxford Street on Christmas day? But then, she saw him. It was weird, seeing it from the outside. He as wearing the black suit, the bad things happen suit, and he looked, she searched for the word. Dejected? Hands in pockets, slumping along the road, as though he had nowhere in particular to be, which of course, he did. The Doctor watched as he made his way closer, oblivious to her presence. She could see now why it had always worked, he was pretty, really, in a sort of, angular, pointy way, especially in that suit. Shame about the associations though. The man looked up, as though to get his bearings, and saw her, started to make a bee-line for her, and then she understood. She remembered the fuzziness, the way she couldn't quite remember what had happened, but that she'd felt so, so much better than she had in a long time, and she knew what she had to do. She just had to be careful of the timelines.

“Alright?” She called out brightly, marching forwards with her hand outstretched.

“Hello?”

“You look like you need a friend?” She said, with a wide smile, but a series of odd expressions crossed his face, one after another, “Oh no, I'm not, I mean, i'm not looking for...” _Oh of course,_ she thought, _the stupid pretty face._ “Not like that.” She clarified, hurriedly, “I just meant, well, its Christmas isn't it? No-one should be alone at Christmas, and if you don't mind my saying, you look like you've had a rough time recently. So, picnic?” She paused for breath, although she hadn't entirely thought through how she might make a picnic happen, in Central London, on Christmas Day, without revealing her identity. “Well, I say picnic, more like a cup of tea and a biscuit, but still.” she reached into her coat pocket, feeling for the smaller flask that didn't raise questions about pocket depth, and the half packet of custard creams she was sure were in there somewhere. He shook the proffered hand, looking her up and down as she produced the flask and biscuits from her coat pocket. “Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor. And you are?”

She nearly said, _me too_ , so nearly, but then stopped her self. “Smith.” She said brightly, “Jo-aaane Smith.” he smiled then, it really was a nice smile, she'd enjoyed having that face, so expressive. “So, Jane Smith,” he said, “what brings you to Central London on this fine Christmas day? Are you some kind of religious worker? Making sure no-ones lonely this Christmas?”

“Something like that, yeah.” She replied, turning and leading the way back down the road, careful to avoid the alley she'd parked in. “Come on, theres a little park this way if I remember right, i'm sure they won't mind if we borrow it for an hour or two.” She popped the flask and the biscuits back into the pocket, near the top.

They walked in companionable silence as far as the gates of Soho square, the statue frowning down at them from its centre. “Locked.” The Doctor muttered, now regretting that her decision to pretend not to be herself meant not whipping out the sonic. _But on the other hand,_ she thought, _an opportunity to make him feel useful._ “Fancy a climb?” She asked out loud, ready for the smile she knew was about to come, schooling her face to stay straight. “Allow me.” he said, pulling out the sonic and aiming it at the padlock which soon fell open. “Sonic screwdriver.” He said, proudly, putting it back into his pocket, “I'll close it up when we're done.”

“Wow,” the Doctor said, drawing on years of everyone else's responses, “Thats a bit brilliant, like a magic wand or something!” and he smiled again, she liked that, that she could make him feel better, just for a while. “There we go, there's a bench over there, we can have a sit down and a chat.”

They settled themselves, and she fished the flask and the biscuits back out again, offering one then the other to the other Doctor. He accepted a biscuit, and she offered him first go on the tea, “Ladies first?” He offered, and she shook her head. “No, you go for it, you look like you need it. Have you been up all night?” He poured out a measure of very sweet tea into the lid, and cradled it in his hands. “You could say that, yes.”

“Want to talk about it?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I did.”

“Try me.” She grinned at him and scrunched up her nose, the face she made to make the fam smile when they were down. It worked. “Alright then. I was on that spaceship, the one that nearly crashed earlier, I managed to stop it, get it back up into the sky, but, well. People still died. I'd lost a friend and then another one and just as I thought it was getting better people died, good people.” The Doctor nodded, she remembered, although in a distant way. Each regeneration lifting her further away from the previous pain. “That sounds like it would be a difficult Christmas.” she thought she ought to do something comforting then, a precious her would probably have gone in for a warm hug. The her in front of her right now would have probably kissed, but she wasn't them, so she simply patted him gently on the shoulder. “Thanks,” he murmured, and sipped the tea again, “i've had worse.”

“But you've had better?” she quipped back, on more familiar ground.

“Oh you could definitely say that.” but his smile was more genuine now. It was working.

“Not to devalue your friends, or the lives of those people who died,” she had to be careful now, phrase it right. “but there are so, so many people in the universe, and i'm sure you'll find more friends, and do more things. Theres an infinite world of possibilities out there, new friends, new experiences, adventure and laughter and magic and wonder. So its okay to be sad, but you've got to remember you can't be sad forever Doctor. The world around you keeps marching on, and you've got to run to keep up with it, and remember what went before whilst you remember that theres a so, so much more still to come, if only you can get out there and find it.” she paused, thinking, of the right way to end the impromptu speech. “And its all, brilliant.” She said finally, with a soft, sad smile, one she hoped would convey the depths of everything she knew and felt.

He stared at her for a while, the cup of tea in the flask forgotten. “You have kind eyes Jane Smith.” he murmured, putting the cup down next to him, and leaning towards her. She froze, awkwardly, not quite sure what to say. He leant further forwards, eyes fluttering closed, and, oh god. She pushed him gently away. “Oi you, keep your snogging to yourself. What you do in the privacy of your own regeneration is your business, you're a married man.” _Oh. That slipped out. Whoops._

“In the privacy of my own?” he started, and leaning back, and then he grinned. “So I'm still not ginger then?”

“Not yet. Sorry.” She confirmed, smiling. “And now you're probably not going to remember most of this, I was hoping if I could pretend hard enough it might bend the rules. That you'd remember having a nice Christmas. Not that I do. So I suppose I knew it must always have happened this way. But still.” she was babbling now, rambling on and on. She tried to stop.

“Well I appreciate the effort, _Doctor._ It's nice to see a friendly face. Anything I should know about? Other than the impending marriage apparently? Or is that one of the ones i've already had because I don't think they count.” The Doctor grinned at her self, so young, so much still to know.

“Sorry sweetie,” she said, unable to resist. “spoilers.” and he laughed, a free infectious laugh, and she laughed too. “Well,” he said, once they had calmed themselves, and settled again. “I feel better than I have done in a while. So thank you. Thank you for coming to find me.” She smiled at him again, “Any time Doctor, any time.”

“Shall I walk you back to your TARDIS? I assume she's parked nearby, but not so near as to interact with mine. You know how she gets when she's too close to herself.” The Doctor smiled again, stood up and offered her hand. She wasn't, as a rule, a hand holding person now, but she had been, he was, and he took it. “Just around the corner Doctor, and if you're really good, i'll let you have a quick peak at the interior, since you won't remember it anyway.” They walked to the gates of the park, where they stopped, to re-lock it behind them. “Would you like to do the honours?” he asked, and she pulled out her own sonic, a familiar warm weight in her hand. “Oh lovely!” he cooed, bending closer to look at it, pulling his hand from hers so he could put on his brainy specs. Oh the brainy specs, she had loved them. “It's a bit different in my time, but it does the job.” she said, pressing down so that the familiar buzzing filled the air and the lock clicked shut, as though they had never been there. She let him take her hand again, as she lead him back around the corner, to the side street the TARDIS hid in.

The Doctor, the other doctor, let out a low admiring whistle as they approached. “New exterior as well, I like it.”

“Just wait til you see the inside!” She said, pulling away to unlock the door, and then, she paused, grinned, and snapped her fingers. The doors fell open. “Well thats a bit much isn't it?” he asked, but he let her show him inside nonetheless. He stood in the console room and gazed around, drinking in the details. The coral structures gone, replaced with glass and metal work, but the central rota standing crystalline and bright, glowing softly. “It's nice.” he said, after a long pause. “I mean, I think I still prefer mine, but its nice. It suits you.” and in his words she was sure she could feel a deeper approval than just the desktop theme. “It all suits you.” _this body,_ he was saying, _this life, this outlook. Its good, it suits you._ “As yours suits you Doctor.” she said, guiding him gently back to the doors. “Now go-on. You're about to have a year to remember.” He smiled at her again, more sadly this time. “But I won't remember this?”

“I'm afraid not.” She confirmed, “the timelines crossing like this, you can't remember the details, it could destroy you. But I can promise, you'll remember a sense of happiness. You'll feel as though you had a good Christmas, even if you're not quite sure why.” He nodded, understanding, and stepped out of the door, stopping just once more, hand on the doorframe as he turned back. “Thank you, Doctor. Thank you for coming to find me.” And then he stepped out, turning to wave her off. “Go on you clever boy.” She called out. “And remember, the universe is infinite in its possibilities, and you have so, so much to see.” He waved once, and then she closed the door, heading back to the console. “Come on girl. Tomorrow lunchtime.” The TARDIS hummed in approval, and the rotor whirred into action, whisking the Doctor away into the future and the north, to her fam, and their next adventure.

*

“Did you get up to anything nice whilst we were gone?” Yaz asked, as they settled themselves back in. Graham had gone off to make tea, and Ryan was away, stowing something in his bedroom, but Yaz was leaning next to the console with the Doctor, her favourite place to be. “Yeah, I popped down to London, saw an old friend.” The Doctor said, turning to Yaz to give one of her most brilliant smiles. “That sounds nice!” Yaz said, encouragingly, as the Doctor turned back to the console, hand resting on a level. “It was Yaz,” she replied, “it really, really way.” She pulled the lever, whisked them away into the vortext, and on, to the next adventure.


End file.
